ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs
Sh. Hardeep Puri to inaugurate the‘First Apex Conference for the CEOs of Smart Cities’ in Bhopal
Shri Hardeep Puri, Minister of State  for Housing & Urban Affairswill inaugurate the ‘First Apex Conference for the CEOs of Smart Cities ‘in Bhopal tomorrow i.e 8th May 2018. Since its launch on 25 June 2015, the Smart Cities Mission , has been one of the most transformational urban missions. Key projects such as digitally integrated smart city centers, street re-design, installation of solar rooftop on buildings, etc., have thus initiated the process of urban transformation, enhancing the liveability of cities. Through their leadership role in driving the implementation of smart city projects, the Chief Executive Officers  of the Smart City Special Purpose Vehicle  have been instrumental in achieving transformational outcomes envisaged under the Mission.
The two-day conference is being organised for providing a platform for cross learning and knowledge sharing among the Smart City CEOs on 8-9 May 2018. The conference will enable the CEOs to learn from the experiences of all city leaders to understand in greater details both successes and failures. The convergence of all the best practices in Smart city missions across the country on a single platform will help the city leaders to not waste time in 'reinventing the wheel' but use the collective learning to accelerate the progress of work.
The plenary sessions will feature panel discussions and presentations by Smart City CEOs highlighting their high impact projects under Mission, which can be disseminated as learning for other cities. Further, the way forward for the city level project implementation will be discussed. There will also be an exhibition showcasing the different projects being undertaken by Cities under Smart Cities Mission.The two-day Apex Conference also provides an opportunity for the participating Smart City CEOs to visit the locations and appreciate the smart city projects implemented by Bhopal Smart City Limited.
Apart from the Smart City CEOs, the participants include representatives from municipal, State and Central Governmentand variousother stakeholders in the Smart City Mission from the civil society, academia, industry etc. The list of invitees includes Principal Secretaries /State Mission Directors, Municipal Commissioners, Ambassadors of several countries, UN representatives, heads of multilateral/bilateral agencies, civil societies, and capacity building institutes. CEOs/heads of major Master System Indicator vendors are also invited.
The Apex Conference is being organized with an objective to provide momentumto the cities anda platform for cross-learning, sharing and disseminating the experience gained over the past two and a half years. The exhibition and presentations by the CEOs will provide useful insights for accelerating project implementation and enable cross learning among Smart Cities. Such knowledge sharing will help the cities to convert ideas into concrete actions as the outcome of the conference.
Prime Minister's Office
PM conveys his best wishes for the Namami Brahmaputra festival
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has conveyed his best wishes for the Namami Brahmaputra festival.
"It is a matter of great pride that the Namami Brahmaputra festival is being launched by the Assam Government. Best wishes for the festival.
The Brahmaputra is the lifeline of Assam and the Northeast and is the source of livelihood for people in the region.
Rivers occupy a central role in India's history and culture. Let us keep working together to ensure clean rivers for India's growth.
More details about Namami Brahmaputra can be found here. http://namamibrahmaputra.com", the Prime Minister said.
Ministry of Defence
VICE ADMIRAL PRIYANTHA PERERA COMMANDER OF THE SRI LANKA NAVY VISIT TO INDIA
VAdm Priyantha Perera, Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy is on a five day official visit to India from 23 - 27 May 23. During the visit, VAdm Priyantha Perera will be presiding over the Passing Out Parade of the Spring Term 23 at Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala.
VAdm Priyantha Perera called on Adm R Hari Kumar, Chief of the Naval Staff on 24 May 23 at New Delhi and held discussions on collaborative mechanisms towards ensuring peace and security in the region. He was received with a ceremonial Guard of Honour at the South Block Lawns. Earlier in the day he paid homage to the bravehearts at the National War Memorial.
India and Sri Lanka share a close and historically significant relationship, and both the countries have engaged closely towards reinforcing the existing relations. India and Sri Lanka have enhanced their interactions in the maritime domain substantially in accordance with India’s ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’ and the maritime outlook of ‘Security and Growth for All in Region’.
Indian Navy cooperates with the Sri Lanka Navy through various initiatives, which include operational interactions such as the bilateral naval exercise SLINEX, hydrography, training, and other maritime avenues. In addition, warships from both the Navies regularly make port calls at each other’s ports.
The extant visit by the Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy is symbolic of increasing naval cooperation between the two navies and renewed the sense of commitment of two friendly maritime neighbours to enhance the security and tackle the maritime challenges in the IOR.
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VM/PS
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Ministry of Steel
RINL Organises Brainstorming Meeting on “Technology Needs Assessment Energy Efficiency with Focus on Steel and other Industries.
RINL organized a Brainstorming Meeting on “Technology Needs Assessment Energy Efficiency with focus on Steel and other industries” today at Management Development Centre, Visakhapatnam steel plant in collaboration with Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council . The brainstorming meet was organized to deliberate de-carbonization pathways and harnessing renewable energy to meet the objective of harnessing 500GW of renewable energy by 2030 and India's achieving "Net Zero Emissions" by 2070.
Shri. Atul Bhatt, CMD, RINL inaugurated the Brainstorming meet at VSP, today. Addressing the participants, Shri Atul Bhatt stressed the need for sustainable way in Steel making and other industries. He informed that MoS  made road map for steel industry and expects steel industry to achieve carbon neutrality as per vision-2047. Sri Atul Bhatt exhorted the participants to brainstorm on various issues to reduce Greenhouse gas emissions  and bring out feasible solution to reduce CO2 emissions.
Dr. Gautam Goswami , Scientist G/Advisor and Head “Foresight & Vision” Division, TIFAC highlighting the objective of the workshop, said that TIFAC is preparing the decarbonization pathways in industries which are hard to abate and said that this workshop will prepare actionable points to prepare national level document to reduce GHG emissions from various industries.
Shri. A.K.Saxena, Director,RINL Shri. Abhijit Chakrabarti, CGMI/C, other CGMs from RINL participated in the work shop.
Delegates from various Steel companies like BSP, IISCO, RDCIS, EMD, AMNS, JSPL & local industries like HPCL, NTPC & and technical institution such as IIPE, AU have participated in the workshop and discussed about de-carbonization options in steel industries and other industries..
RINL and TIFAC of Department of Science and Technology have jointly conducted this workshop successfully.
Ministry of Law and Justice
Arbitration Council of India and New Delhi International Arbitration Centre needs to be set up to achieve PM’s vision to develop India as an international arbitration hub : says Law Minister Shri Kiren Rijiju
Shri Kiren Rijiju, Minister for Law & Justice, along with Prof. S P Singh Baghel, Minister of State for Law & Justice took a meeting with the officers of the Department of Legal Affairs and Legislative Department on 15th July, 2021 at Shastri Bhawan. Shri Anoop Kumar Mendiratta, Law Secretary and Secretary, Legislative Department along with officers welcomed the Ministers who in their introductory remarks highlighted the areas of priority for the Government with regard to the working of the Ministry and emphasized upon the need for time bound disposal of files marked to the Department.
Law Minister expressed his appreciation for the Legal Information Management and Briefing System initiative of the Department and directed for further enhancing its scope and reach to monitor litigation which is of significant importance from Government and Policy perspectives.
Minister also stated that to achieve the Prime Minister’s vision to develop India as an international arbitration hub, the Arbitration Council of India  and the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre  are required to be set up. The establishment of these institutions will not only help in reduction of litigation for appointment of arbitrators, but would promote institutional arbitration, which is the need of the hour. Besides, the efforts in this direction would help the country in promotion of ease of doing business  environment, particularly with regard to enforcing of contracts and help in further improving of India’s position in the World Bank ranking on EODB. These initiatives would be conducive in attracting foreign investments and strengthening of the Indian economy.
Prime Minister's Office
PM visits Radha Soami Satsang Beas
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi visited Radha Soami Satsang Beas today. He interacted Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon and saw the activities there.
The Prime Minister tweeted:
“Delighted to have got the opportunity to visit Radha Soami Satsang Beas and see the exceptional work they are doing. Also had an insightful interaction with Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon Ji, whose passion for service is admirable and inspiring.”
Ministry of Defence
Army Commanders’ Conference: April 18
The biannual Army Commanders’ Conference shall commence on 16 April 18. The opening address will be given by Hon’ble Minister of State for Defence, Shri Subhash Ramrao Bhamre.
During the conference, chaired by General Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff, the senior commanders will deliberate on specific issues to Army formations and Army as a whole.
Important issues that are likely to be discussed are management of the extant security dynamics, mitigation of future security threats and enhancement of combat edge over potential adversaries. Other issues like infrastructure development for capacity enhancement along the Northern borders, review of strategic railway lines, optimization of limited budget to ensure making up of critical deficiency in ammunition, issues related to Border Road Organization projects, ECHS, as also other matters relevant to operations, administration and welfare of troops will be discussed in detail for planning and execution.
Army Commanders’ Conference, chaired by Chief of the Army Staff is held biannually for formulating important policy decisions through collegiate deliberations. It is an important event for planning and execution process of the Indian Army.
Ministry of Development of North-East Region
New breakthroughs in economy, trade, scientific research & other fields likely to emerge post COVID Scenario: Dr Jitendra Singh
Dr. Singh addresses Indo-Bangladesh “Virtual Conference” organised by ASSOCHAM
Union DoNER Minister of State  Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that new paradigms will emerge post-COVID, with a potential for new breakthroughs in economy, trade, scientific research and several other diverse areas.
Addressing the Indo-Bangladesh “Virtual Conference” organised by ASSOCHAM  and attended, among others, by Minister of Commerce Bangladesh Tipu Munshi, Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad Sangma and Ms Riva Ganguli Das High commissioner to Bangladesh, Dr Jitendra Singh said, in the last six years, the North Eastern Region had made up for several lapses of the past because for the first time the region received equal attention at par with the other regions of the country. This had not only instilled confidence among the people but also raised the capacity to engage with other parts of India as well as the countries across the eastern borders, at different levels.
As for Bangladesh, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Indo-Bangladesh treaty for exchange of enclaves, which was accomplished under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,had cleared the decks for ease of business, ease of movement and ease of commuting, which was earlier a tedious task. He observed, this should have been done four-and-half decades ago, right at the time of birth of Bangladesh, but was possibly not the priority of the earlier governments.
Referring to traditionally friendly relations between the two countries, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it is far easier to do business with Bangladesh than with many other countries. In addition, he said, North Eastern Region has a critical role to play to boost trade and business between the two countries.
In the emerging scenario, Dr Jitendra Singh said, Bamboo from the North East is going to be an important vehicle of trade not only for India but also for the entire subcontinent, particularly the Eastern countries like Bangladesh. He mentioned several items which could be promoted for popular trade between the two countries. These, for example, included coal, ginger, citrus-fruit, etc. for export and cement, plastic, PVC pipes etc for import, he added.
While offering to provide all possible support from the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region , Dr Jitendra Singh called upon the trade and business organisations like ASSOCHAM to come forward and facilitate PPP  model for promotion of new industries and business units with mutual benefit.
While the government can play an enabling role, Dr Jitendra Singh said, trade and industry bodies could come forward to fill the gap of resources and capital.
Vineet Agarwal and Deepak Sood from ASSOCHAM also spoke on the occasion.
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VG/SNC
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Ministry of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare
Agriculture and Food Processing Industry Expo - 2020
With participation from Central and State Governments, corporate, and startups, Expo-2020 Dubai is helped the Nation to explore new areas of collaboration for Indian entities and position itself as a global economic hub. India Innovation Hub at the India Pavilion also helped in building on India’s strength as the third-largest incubator of unicorns and has displayed innovations of many Indian startups so far. The platform captured the attention of Indian as well as global investors assisting the startup ecosystem bloom. This platform offered a massive opportunity for exploring business prospects and laying the foundation for future strategic engagements.The expo was meant to showcase India’s potential and strength with respect to different sectors including food and agriculture.
Sectors from India participated in the Dubai Expo 2020:
- Millets
- Organic & Horticulture
- Technology & Innovations 
- Allied Sector 
The objective of the Dubai Expo event was to showcase countries offering to the world and aims to forge new partnerships & inspire ground-breaking solutions across key industries worldwide.
The participation during ‘Food Agriculture and Livelihoods’ theme was also focused upon establishing linkages for the future development in the agriculture and allied sectors. During this period, many meetings were organized with different countries for deepening of relationship and also to explore opportunities for collaboration pertaining to trade development with focus on export, technology transfer, capacity buildings, etc.
The senior level delegation from India met with senior officials and investors from - UAE, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Vietnam, Morocco, Indonesia, and Argentina, UAE is a significant market for agricultural produce from India, the delegation interacted with key officials from the prominent companies like Al Dahra, Grand Hypermarket, Lulu Hypermarket, RNZ enterprises, Choithram group, Aqua Bridge, Sharaf Group, Jaleel holdings, DP World, Transworld etc.
Both the Government as well as private sector players explored areas of cooperation in agriculture, food processing, diary & animal husbandry and fisheries sector, in order to boost business and strengthen the trade relation the sidelines of Dubai Expo.
This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha today.
Ministry of Science & Technology
New model for improving high-frequency radio communications, crucial during natural disasters
A new model for radio wave propagation through the ionosphere developed by scientists can help estimate the impact of space weather and facilitate the planning and operation of High Frequency  radio communications, a vital means of communication during the situations like natural disasters, and mid-ocean surveillance.
The ionosphere is a region of Earth’s upper atmosphere ranging from about 100 - 1000 km and acts as a gateway for radio communication between the ground and space. Radio waves of certain frequencies  are reflected back to the ground by the ionosphere which facilitates long-distance HF communications beyond the horizon, known as Skywave communications. Despite the increasing use of satellite communications, traditional long-distance high-frequency  radio communication, remains a vital means of communication during the situations like natural disasters, mid-ocean surveillance, over-the-horizon target detection, and so on. Severe ionospheric disturbances that arise due to a range of space weather events like Solar flares, Coronal Mass Ejections , and Geomagnetic storms significantly affect Skywave communications. This variability of ionosphere due to disturbances in space weather can significantly limit the usage of Skywave communications
Scientists of the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism , an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology have recently developed a model for HF radio wave propagation through the ionosphere which helps in studying the impacts of space weather effects on the ionosphere and Skywave communication systems. In their recent study published in the journal Space Weather, a group of scientists from IIG have found a deep depletion of the ionosphere over the low latitudes of the Indian sub-continent region due to a severe geomagnetic storm on 17th March 2015. The HF radio wave propagation model developed by IIG scientists indicates that this ionospheric depletion can severely limit the usable HF spectrum by more than 50% for Skywave communication during this disturbed period. Also, the skip-zones where the Skywave signals are not receivable are expanded for very large areas resulting in the loss of communications. This information is crucial for developing robust strategies in mitigating the space effects on Skywave communication systems.
The HF radio propagation model developed by IIG scientists has important applications in planning the right strategies for the operation of Skywave communication systems during active space weather periods. The development of such strategies is essential for ensuring reliable Skywave communication systems in the face of natural disasters and other emergencies.
Publication link: https://doi.org/10.1029/2022SW003369
Figure: Significant decrease of Usable HF spectrum and increase of Skip zone on Disturbed day  compared to Usual day  predicted by HF propagation model developed by IIG scientists.
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SNC
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Ministry of Coal
Substantial Increase in Coal Production
Production Touches 524. 2 million ton upto November 2022
The all India coal production in the year 2021-2022 was 778.19 Million Tonne  in comparison to 716.083 MT in the year 2020-2021. Further, in the current financial year , the country has produced about 524.2 MT of coal as compared to about 448.1 MT during the same period of last year with a growth of about 17%.
The production from the allocated captive /commercial blocks for the last three years and current year  is given below:
|
|
Financial Year
|
|
Production 
|
|
2019-20
|
|
58.88
|
|
2020-21
|
|
63.14
|
|
2021-22
|
|
85.32
|
|
2022-23 
|
|
67.16 
In 2022-23 , the supply/dispatch of domestic coal in the country was 558.244 MT .
Action taken by the Government to enhance the production of coal in the country:
- Enhanced coal production from mines of Coal India Ltd  – both in capacity of existing mines as well as operationalization of new mines/projects.
- Enhanced production from commercial coal mines.
- Enactment of Mines and Minerals  Amendment Act, 2021 for enabling captive mines owners  to sell up to 50% of their annual mineral  production in the open market after meeting the requirement of the end use plant.
- Overall improvement of coal logistics by way of First Mile Connectivity, Rail Projects and integrated logistics movement of coal.
- Induction of enhanced Mass Production Technologies and enhancing efficiency of mines with introduction of Digitization of operation and introduction of ERP.
- Regular monitoring by Ministry of Coal.
- Single Window Clearance system for facilitation of clearances for early operationalization of coal mines.
This information was given by the Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
Prime Minister's Office
PM to dedicate India’s longest road tunnel to the nation
PM to dedicate India’s longest road tunnel to the nation
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, will dedicate to the nation, India’s longest road tunnel – the 9 kilometre long “Chenani – Nashri Tunnel” – on April 2nd, 2017.
The tunnel on NH-44 which connects Jammu with Srinagar, will reduce travel time between the two cities by upto two hours. It achieves a distance-reduction of 31 kilometres, bypassing snow-bound upper reaches. The estimated daily fuel savings are to the tune of Rs. 27 lakhs.
Besides avoiding large scale deforestation and tree-cutting, the tunnel will provide a safe, all-weather route to commuters travelling from Jammu and Udhampur, to Ramban, Banihal and Srinagar.
The tunnel is equipped with world-class security systems, and is expected to boost tourism and economic activities in the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Key Features of the tunnel
• It is a single-tube bi-directional tunnel, with a 9.35 metre carriageway, and a vertical clearance of 5 metres.
• There is also a parallel escape tunnel, with “Cross Passages” connecting to the main tunnel at intervals of 300 metres.
• It also has smart features such as an Integrated Traffic Control System; Surveillance, Ventilation and Broadcast Systems; Fire Fighting System; and SOS call-boxes at every 150 metres.
• The project has been completed at a cost of over Rs. 2500 crore